


Better Days

by hanzoshimadas



Category: Red Dead Redemption
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Early Days of the Van Der Linde Gang, Young Arthur, Young Arthur Morgan, Young John Marston, Young Sean MacGuire
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-29
Updated: 2019-04-01
Packaged: 2019-09-02 02:20:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 19,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16777705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanzoshimadas/pseuds/hanzoshimadas
Summary: The early days of the Van Der Linde Gang.Arthur, John, and Sean are brothers through the streets, their own families long gone. They survived together until one false step sent John heading to the gallows. Dutch stops the kid from swinging and offers them a new family amongst the Van Der Linde Gang.---Explores Arthur, John, and Sean's arrival to the gang, their teenage years, and the events of the game.





	1. Outlaws from the West

**Fall, 1883**

The temperature was already beginning to drop as a cool chill swept through the temporary camp. The horses protested against the sharp change in conditions vocally across the way, hitched to handmade posts of fire pokers stabbed into the ground.

Miss. Grimshaw, Bessie, and Molly were sat around the campire awaiting the return of the male members of the group, conversing tales of the pigs they'd successfully swindled out of their hard earned cash in the town over.

Javier was plucking away at his guitar, sat at the base of a tree near his tent, and Uncle was fast asleep after having getting drunk with the equally unconscious Reverend.

The distinct sound of hooves could be heard approaching before Dutch, Hosea, Charles, and Bill rode through the brush.

"Please tell me you come bearing meat, this rabbit ain't gonna' feed us all." Pearson called out.

Hosea climbed down from his horse and shook his head.

"There was nothing for miles, just empty fields."

"We will try again tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. I promise you all that we won't starve. We will stand up that general store if we have to. No one is going hungry, not on my watch."

Bessie walked over to her husband and offered him a peck on the lips.

"I missed you."

He smiled.

"Let's retire for the night. Bright and early tomorrow, we will venture out across the state lines and get to work." Dutch instructed.

* * *

**Annesburg**

"So what's the plan here, Dutch?" Hosea asked as the two walked down the main street of the town.

"We'll see what we can find out about the store owner and then sneak in after dark to get what we need."

"Why not just rob him now, we'll be moving on in a matter of days anyway, what harm could be done?"

"I'd rather not have the full force of the law after us over something so small as stealing canned goods."

Dutch's ear pricked up at the sound of very lightly approaching footsteps from behind him. Seconds later, he felt his holster lighten before the distinct click of a gun being cocked could be heard.

"This is real dumb..." Dutch emphasised, keeping his hands purposely away from the other pistol to not give the thief any reason to shoot, for now anyway.

"Walk, into that alley." The thief ordered in a voice that sounded painfully too young.

Dutch furrowed an eyebrow as he motioned for Hosea to follow.

They made their way into a darkened alley between two rundown buildings.

"I'm gonna' need to see some money from the two of you if you wanna' walk out of here alive. And don't try anything funny, the people round here don't like new folk. You don't wanna' give them a reason to put a bullet in ya', or one of them fancy nooses round yer' necks."

Dutch turned to look at the thief.

Or, even, the kid.

The boy could barely be older than twenty, give or take maybe a year either side of that. His hair was ratty and unwashed, his skin covered in dirt, his clothes practically shredded in some places, the gun being held with bony fingers to match a worryingly too thin structure for a boy his age.

"What's yer' name, kid?"

"I ain't no kid, and who wants to know?" The boy bit back.

"I do." Dutch began. "I have a tradition of finding out the names of those who manage to get the drop on me like this."

The boy scoffed.

"I ain’t tellin’ you shit, now give me money, valuables, anything of worth." He motioned towards their satchels with the gun.

"How about a meal at the saloon?"

Hosea scowled.

"Dutch, the money is already low-."

"What d'you say, kid?" Dutch cut him off.

The boy seemed to consider it before shaking his head.

"Can't."

"Why not? And anyway, what's a kid like you doing out robbing folk?"

"That's none of yer' business!"

"ARTHUR! ARTHUR!"

A voice screamed from down the street, breaking the kid's focus immediately. He lowered the gun as he moved away from the two men to seek out the figure sprinting towards him.

"What's wrong?" The boy crouched down in front of an even smaller child, a six-year-old at Dutch's best guess. "What happened?"

The youngin' was nearly hyperventilating, looking close to tears as he smushed himself closer to the older boy, fear in his expression.

"They got John! They caught him stealin'!"

The boy's eyes widened.

"No, no, no, no, no..." He muttered under his breath before kicking at the dust on the ground. "Dammit!"

The younger boy whimpered a little.

He took a breath before wrapping an arm around the smaller kid.

"We'll get him back, okay?"

"Promise?"

The boy sighed.

"I'll try."

Dutch took the opportunity to walk toward them while off-guard and pluck his revolver from the older boy's hands.

"Seems you boys might need some assistance."

"Not from you..." The older boy stated through gritted teeth, using a hand to move the younger kid safely behind him.

"Look, you can try and save your friend on your own, but I can guarantee that having us on your side might just stop him from hanging."

The younger boy whimpered a little.

The elder kid placed a comforting hand on the boy in reassurance.

"I just tried to rob you, why the hell would you wanna' help us?"

"Because I'm not the bad guy." Dutch stated. "We will help, but on one condition."

The older boy rolled his eyes.

"Here we go... What is it?"

"I want names and details, all three of ya'. No aliases, no bullshit."

He sighed, clearly debating it for a few seconds before scrubbing a hand down his face.

"Fine... I'm Arthur, this is Sean, and the one who just stupidly got himself arrested is John. Can I tell you the rest on the way to find him?"

Dutch nodded.

"Sounds good to me." He holstered his gun. "Hosea, take the boy, Arthur, you ride with me."

"Hell no, Sean stays with me."

"Can't ride with three."

"Then we don't ride on horseback." Arthur walked down a short way to the end of the alley before motioning to a wagon. "This'll do, tie your horses to the front and let's get moving, we're burnin' daylight enough as it is."

Dutch smiled at the boy's leadership before nodding and prepping the cart.

Arthur helped Sean up to the back of the wagon before taking a seat himself.

"Sean, where did they say they was taking John?"

"Van Horn."

"Shit!" Arthur cursed.

"He's gonna' be okay though, right?" Sean asked.

"He's in Van Horn!" Arthur relayed to Dutch and Hosea at the front of the wagon, trying to ignore his younger brother's line of questioning.

"Hold tight."

* * *

As they rode down the trail to Van Horn, Hosea couldn't help but consider Dutch's play in all this.

"So, there has to be a reason you agreed to this. What is it?"

"There's no reason." Dutch replied.

Hosea scoffed.

"Bullshit."

"They are two young boys who are clearly parentless and penniless who have just discovered that their friend is set to hang, we may fall outside the norms of society, Mr. Matthews but I will not lower myself to the modern values of only looking out for one's self. A boy is set to hang, that is means enough to provide our services."

"What if they set the law on us?"

"The elder boy didn't know the weight of a loaded gun versus an unloaded one, they're not from this life, they're just the result of a darker fate which has led them to the streets."

"Arthur, the eldest, he could prove himself a useful recruit to the cause."

"My thoughts exactly."

"Ahh, so that's the real reason then..."

Dutch scowled.

"Hosea, what are you suggestin'?"

"That you know this boy will only join us if we get the noose off his friend's throat." Hosea stated. "We do that, you give him the hard sell of food, shelter, protection, and a family for the youngin's, and you'll have him in the palm of your hand."

"We could do with some new members."

"So we're poaching children now?"

"I don't discriminate." Dutch turned to the two boys in the back. "We're here."

Hosea drove the wagon toward a secluded spot before parking up.

"Me and the boys will get the other one, you wait here and keep an eye on the horses. Come on."

Arthur led Sean down from the rear and began to follow Dutch. They approached the gallows to find a crowd already gathered.

Dutch leant closer to the boy.

"Can you see him?"

Arthur frantically looked around before he finally spotted John, shackled, and in the grasp of two lawmen, fighting them with everything he had.

"There."

Dutch clocked the position and nodded.

"Leave this to me, you two, back to the wagon and be ready for a quick departure."

Arthur nodded, taking Sean's hand and sprinting off.

Dutch snuck through the crowd, locating the lawmen and approaching from the rear.

"Get yer' hands off me you fat sacks of shit!" The young boy cursed up a storm as he stamped his foot down on one of the lawmen's before making a break for it.

"Hey!"

Ducking behind a building, Dutch waited before grabbing the pursuing lawmen and pulling him closer, sealing his hand over their mouth and nose until they collapsed. He quickly dumped the body before going after the boy.

He managed to catch up with him quickly, taking hold of the chain between the shackles and dragging him toward the wagon.

"The fuck are you?!"

"Someone who just saved your life." Dutch replied before shoving the kid up into the back of the wagon and quickly clambering into his own seat up-front. "Go, now!"

Hosea snapped the reins sending the horses into action, taking off down the road out of town.

John, who was lying a little dazed after his abrupt collision with the wooden wagon, blinked a few times before his eyes clocked his fellow passengers.

"John!"

Arthur closed the gap between them as he pulled the younger boy closer to rest back against the wall of the wagon.

"The hell were you thinkin' going off on your own like that?! What have I told you?! You nearly got yerself' killed!"

"I woulda' gotten out of it." John grinned.

"Sure you would." Arthur lifted the shackles. "These are just for decoration."

"John!" Sean ran and jumped at him, smushing against him.

"Hey, partner, I saw you runnin' after the law took me, did you tell Arthur what happened?"

Sean nods proudly.

"Then you are one brave kid."

He giggles.

* * *

Dutch smiled as he overheard the three talking in the back.

"Was you serious about bringing those boys back to camp?" Hosea asked.

"Damn right."

"We already have too many mouths to feed and not enough money to pay for it as is."

"Then Charles and Uncle need to go on more hunting trips then don't they?"

Hosea relented.

"Fine."

"It weren't up for discussion." Dutch teased.

"I know it weren't, but I thought I'd say my peace anyway."

"Do you really think we coulda' ever gone back to that camp without 'em? Imagine the women's response if we said we'd left 'em?"

"It wouldn't have been pretty." Hosea admitted.

"That it would not."


	2. Come Live by My Side

They had arrived at the camp a few hours ago. Dutch had introduced them to the members of his gang, and they had been fussed over by a woman named Miss. Grimshaw. Numerous members of the group had fallen immediately for Sean, smiling at his youthful innocence, something lacking in all of them.

Sean was now wandering around the camp taking in the sights. He noticed a red haired girl talking to someone, his face breaking out in a huge smile.

"You sound like me!" He exclaimed.

By the fire, Arthur was toeing at pieces of wood with his boot, staring at the flames.

Dutch walked over and took a seat on the log next to his.

"So, about those details you were gonna' give me."

"What do you wanna' know?"

"Full names, and what you're doing on your own."

"Little paranoid there, big guy." Arthur scoffed.

"You learn to be in this life."

"Arthur Morgan." He motioned towards the youngest. "Sean MacGuire." He couldn't see John. "And somewhere around here, probably sulking, or causing trouble, is John Marston."

"So what are three kids doing robbing folk?"

"Trying to stay alive."

"Parents?"

"Nope. John's are dead, mother died in childbirth, father was blinded in a bar fight and died a few years later. We met after he ran away from an orphanage. My mother died too quick, and my father didn't die quick enough. And Sean, his Pa was murdered in his bed after taking him to the States for a better life. John and I heard gunfire and rushed over to find two men sprinting out of the house. Sean was only four at the time, he didn't know what was going on. I told him his Pa had to go away for a while and got him outta' there."

"So you're like a parent to the two of them?"

"Don't know if I'd say that. I just watch out for 'em, that's all."

"They're lucky to have you."

Arthur smirked.

"I'm sure they'd disagree."

"Arthur!"

"Speak of the devil."

John walked over and took a seat next to his brother.

"You haven't thanked Mr...."

"Dutch. Call me Dutch."

Dutch took the opportunity to gauge the younger boy's age. He looked to be around ten, making him the middle kid in age.

"I did half the work!" John argued.

"John!"

The kid relented with a scowl.

"Fine. Thanks for gettin' those lawmen off me, I coulda' done it without ya' but I appreciate the help."

Arthur rolled his eyes at the half-assed apology.

"It's like gettin' blood from a stone with you."

"You're welcome, boy." Dutch nodded. "Glad to be of service."

Sean came running over and clambered up to sit on Arthur's lap.

"Arthur! There's a girl over there that sounds like me. Her name is Molly."

"Molly O'Shea." Dutch added. "Lovely girl."

Arthur brushed away some dirt from Sean's shirt with his hand.

"How are so you so dirty?"

"I fell over looking at the horses. There's so many of 'em, Arthur!" Sean explained, excitedly.

"Everything alright over here?" Hosea walked over to join them by the campfire.

"Everything is just fine, the boys and I are gettin' to know each other a little." Dutch turned to Arthur. "So, my proposal. Have you had the chance to give it much thought?"

Arthur sighed.

"Why should we join you?"

"Because I can offer you it all. Safety, shelter, food, a family. Because that's what we are, a family. We take care of each other here." Dutch paused. "You boys could benefit from having someone around to look out for you all."

"What's in it for you? What do you expect from us?"

"From you, to help around camp, and learn the trade with the others. Fishing, hunting, the odd job here and there."

"Sean is just a boy, and John ain't that much older." Arthur whispered. "They can't be doing much."

"I'm old enough!" John stated.

"Will you shut up!" Arthur scorned, silencing his brother before turning back to Dutch.

"They wouldn't be expected to, not until they hit a little less than your age."

"Okay."

Dutch smiled.

"So you accept?"

Arthur took a deep breath.

"Don't make me regret this, but... yeah, we'll join you."

"Excellent!"

Dutch stood up.

"Everyone, get over here!" He called.

The other camp folk walked over to the fire.

"It is my great pleasure to introduce you to the newest members of our little family. Arthur, John, and Sean."

Cheers, whoops, and whistles could be heard as the members came to shake their hands, offering pats on the shoulder with attached welcoming smiles.

"Miss. Grimshaw? Could you find these boys somewhere of their own please?"

"Of course." The well-dressed woman nodded, corralling them across the camp towards an empty tent pitched with cloth over the back to break the wind. "Molly and I can share for now. Will you boys be okay in here? It'll be tight for the three of ya'."

"This is fine, ma'am. Thank you."

She smiled.

"Then have a good night, boys."

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Sean echoed with a grin.

John didn't say anything, instead inspecting the hay filled sack which was clearly meant to be a pillow.

"You have got to be kiddin' me."

"I'm sorry if it don't meet your standards Mr. High Society, but if you remember correctly, you was the one who got us run outta' town without our stuff."

"I was tryin' to get us something to eat!"

"I heard the lawmen talking, John, you was found with jewellery in yer' pockets!"

"If we had money we could buy food. I saw it and I took the chance. It didn't work out. I'm sorry!" John shouted, getting worked up.

Arthur saw the unshed tears in his brother's eyes. He was feeling worse than he was trying to let on.

He took a seat in the tent.

"Come 'ere."

John relented, allowing Arthur to pull him close against his side.

"I coulda' got Sean killed. I'm sorry... I'm so sorry."

Arthur sighed, rubbing a hand up and down his brother's arm reassuringly.

"I'm sorry for shouting, I was just worried about you. You scared the crap out of me back there. You gotta' be more careful, especially if Sean is with you. We can't afford to take dumb chances like that."

"I know. I won't do it again."

"Good."

Sean jumped around in the tent.

"Come here, you." John summoned.

Sean giggled before jumping on his brother.

"Oof!" John smiled. "You doing okay, Little Bear?"

The youngest nodded.

"Are we stayin' here, Arthur?"

"Yeah, for now."

"So we might be leavin' again?"

"It depends, Sean."

"Why?"

"It's a long story, Tinker. Anyway, you need some sleep."

"I'm not tired." Sean attempted as he yawned.

"Sure you're not." John smirked.

"Come on, lie down." Arthur directed the youngest. "You too, John."

His younger brother's lay down below the cloth in the tent. He picked up the small blanket and placed it gently over the two of them.

"Goodnight, Arthur! Goodnight, John!" Sean smiled before closing his eyes and snuggling closer to John who lifted his arm to bring it protectively around the younger.

"Goodnight." John followed.

"Goodnight." Arthur took a breath, lying down on his back, looking up at the vast stars above them. "Things will get better, I promise."


	3. Americans at Rest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those wondering about their ages:
> 
> Arthur is 20  
> John is 10  
> Sean is 6
> 
> Current members of the Van Der Linde Gang (from oldest to youngest):
> 
> Uncle, Hosea, Miss. Grimshaw, Bessie, Dutch, Swanson, Bill, Molly, Pearson, Charles, Arthur, Javier, John, and Sean.

The first full night spent in the camp saw the three brothers around the campfire looking lost, and nervous around the droves of gang members.  
  
Pearson brought them over a plate of food each, which John and Sean scarfed down manorlessly, while Arthur pretended to eat, ultimately dividing the food from his own plate between his two younger brothers when no one was looking.  
  
He knew they'd been hungry, but it hurt Arthur something deep to see just how badly.  
  
Miss. Grimshaw refilled the plates of John and Sean, offering the same to Arthur, but he declined, stating a funny stomach for the reason behind it, which she seemed happy enough with.  
  
From that point on, he continued to give his own share to his brothers.

* * *

The sun was baking down over the camp as Arthur groaned, sitting up to ungodly stomach cramps and someone kicking him in the leg.  
  
"The hell?" He murmured, turning to see Hosea standing over him.  
  
"Get up and do some work."  
  
"What time is it?"  
  
"Almost midday, now on your feet, there's wood to be cut."  
  
Arthur nodded, getting to his feet as Hosea walked away, and quickly changing into his clothes, not feeling at all well.  
  
He looked around for John and Sean, finding them playing in the shallow shore of the lake by the camp, idly splashing each other, giggling happily.  
  
Arthur was sweating already, nabbing his father's hat from the post and putting it on against the sun.  
  
"You okay, Arthur?" Asked the concerned voice of Bessie.  
  
"I'm fine, Miss."  
  
"My Hosea ain't been too harsh on you is he? I saw him over by that tent of yours."  
  
"No, no, he was right, I should've been working by now."  
  
"Horsheshit, you shouldn't be working at all, you're just a boy."  
  
"I ain't no kid, Miss."  
  
"Sure you ain't, but that don't mean you're not allowed time of your own."  
  
"I owe Dutch and Hosea a lot, and I need to keep working so they don't change their minds 'bout us. John and Sean need this."  
  
"What about you?"  
  
Arthur shrugs.  
  
"I don't matter."  
  
"Well of course you do, don't say that." Bessie looked him Arthur. "You don't look so good, sweetie, are you feeling okay?"  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
"Don't lie to me."  
  
"I ain't, I just need to start cutting... I just..."  
  
Arthur's eyes flickered as black spots danced in his vision. A few seconds later, everything went black.

* * *

"Dammit', boy. When was the last time you ate?"  
  
"John! Sean! You get over here right now... Now I want an honest answer, you hear me? Have you been taking your brother's food?"  
  
"I didn't take nothing, Arthur gave us it."  
  
"He has been eating something though, right?"  
  
"He said he has."  
  
"But you ain't actually seen 'im eat anything?"  
  
"Goddamn self sacrificing idiot."  
  
Arthur groaned, flickering his eyes open with a furrowed brow of confusion as to why he was on the ground with the camp surrounding him.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"You collapsed."  
  
"I can see that." He pushed himself upright.  
  
"You damn fool, what has gotten into you?" Dutch asked.  
  
"I don't..."  
  
"You haven't been eating, have you?"  
  
Arthur looked terrified.  
  
"I..."  
  
"Don't lie to me, son."  
  
Arthur took a breath.  
  
"I wasn't working hard enough to make the three of us being here worthwhile for you, so I thought having less food would balance it out a little, more for everyone else."  
  
"So what, you thought we were just gonna' kick you out?"  
  
"You don't understand. I've been on the streets for years, you get used to having nothing after a while. But John and Sean, they're just kids. This place... you've already given them more than I could in three years. They need this so bad, and I refused to be the reason they lost it. They were eating you out of house and home so I had to make that back up somewhere, so yeah, I skipped meals, pretended I'd already grabbed a bowl and then did my chores. Did more chores than I was even meant to, and tried to contribute to the tin with any money I'd pocketed in Annesburg. I had to prove that we were worth it, or at least persuade you to keep them, when you decided I wasn't worth the space." He takes a breath. "I'll do the chores, sorry 'bout this."  
  
Arthur stumbled unsteadily to his feet before heading off towards the log pile.  
  
"Arthur... Arthur, stop."  
  
Hosea rested his hand on Arthur's shoulder, halting him.  
  
"You're not doing the chores today."  
  
"But they need-"  
  
"Someone else will do them... I'll do them myself if needs must, but you're not doing them."  
  
"I'm not an invalid, I can work." Arthur huffed.  
  
"Not today."  
  
"But..."  
  
"Arthur, I'm telling you, not asking. You need food, you need water, and you need to sit down and relax with your brothers. Get Javier to play something, he's pretty good with his guitar now. Or ask Bessie to tell you boys a story, she'll be over the moon."  
  
Arthur looked defeated, and mostly just sad.  
  
"I'm not useless." His voice was painfully small.  
  
Hosea exhaled.  
  
"You, are anything but, Arthur. You have a good heart, and a whole lot of care for your family, you should be proud of that."  
  
He smiled.  
  
"Now go relax."  
  
Arthur nodded, going to head towards the campfire.  
  
"Oh, and Arthur?... No chores for the rest of the week."


	4. Fleeting Joy

John noticed Javier sat beside his tent and walked over with a smile.  
  
"Hi."  
  
"Hola."

John looked confused.  
  
"What does that mean?"  
  
"It means hello."  
  
"Why didn't you just say hello then?"  
  
"I did." Javier smirks. "So you came here with your brothers?"  
  
"Yeah, Arthur talked his way into getting us a spot here somehow."  
  
"I saw what happened, he must care about you a lot to go hungry like that."  
  
"He cares too much sometimes, and it only ever effects him. I wish he would put himself first."  
  
"He's an older brother, that isn't going to happen."  
  
"What about you, got any siblings?"  
  
"Back in Mexico."  
  
"So why are you here?"  
  
"It was safer for them if I left. I headed to America and fell into the path of Dutch. It was also my plan to keep moving around, but I like it here. I like the people."  
  
John traces his finger through the pebbles and dust on the ground.  
  
"Arthur seems real worried about us getting kicked outta' here, and he usually ends up being right about his feelings. Plus, I don't think people here like us so much."  
  
"I wouldn't say that." Javier paused. "There something more than that you're worried about?"  
  
"People don't treat Arthur so good so I get angry and usually either curse them out or punch them across their stupid face. Or people don't like having Sean around, which is just horseshit because it's Sean, he's only little and people won't let him be a kid, or as close as you can be to one in a life like this."  
  
"You're worried about being the reason behind getting you guys kicked out of here?"  
  
John just shrugs, eyes not lifting from the ground.  
  
"Well, I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen, but even if something did, I'll have your back, amigo." Javier smiles. "You sound like him, you know."  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Your brother. Apparently he wasn't eating 'cause he thought he needed to pull more weight than he was to make feeding three more mouths worthwhile. He was worried about getting you guys kicked out too. Apparently it runs in the family."  
  
John smirks.  
  
"I'm just worried, that's all. I can cope better than Arthur wants to admit out on the streets, it's Sean I'm worried about. Like I said, he's just a kid, and luckily he still has his innocence. I wanna' help him keep that for as long as possible. He needs to be here for that to happen, he'd lose it much quicker if we were back out there on our own."  
  
Javier glances around the camp and notices Sean a short distance over looking at them, clearly not knowing whether he was allowed over.  
  
"You just going to stand there all day or are you gonna' join us, chiquito?"  
  
Sean beams, walking over and sitting down beside John, huddling into his side.  
  
"You been behavin'?"  
  
"Yes, John..."  
  
"Good."  
  
Sean ran off.  
  
"So how long have you been with Arthur?"  
  
"Just over two years. After my Dad died I was put in an orphanage for a bit, but I ran away soon after, ended up on the streets. Arthur was also out there, had been for years. I think he was ten when they hung his father. He was eighteen when we met, and he just immediately started looking after me. The year went on and nothing changed, until we found Sean. Got him outta' that mess and then basically just tried to survive."  
  
"And now you're here. Life is weird."  
  
John smirks.  
  
"That, is an understatement."  
  
"John!" Arthur called from across camp.  
  
"You're wanted."  
  
John exhales.  
  
"I'm probably in trouble more like."  
  
Javier smirks.  
  
"Good luck."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
John stands up and leaves Javier to his guitar.  
  
Arthur was dismounting the horse Hosea had stolen for him, a large deer stowed on the back of it.  
  
"Good hunt?"  
  
"It's gross."  
  
John smirked.  
  
"Where's Sean?"  
  
"By the water." John, judging the immediate unspoken concern in his brother's expression, raised a hand. "He's fine, and Javier's down there just in case."

Before Arthur could respond, he heard something. Furrowing an eyebrow, he put a finger to his lips to keep his brother quiet.  
  
Light muttering could be heard before...  
  
Deafening shouts and screams broke the tranquillity of the night as masked men charged through the trees into the camp.  
  
Arthur went to cover his brother but was interrupted by the stock of a rifle striking him upside the head, sending him to a heap on the ground.  
  
He was seeing double as he groaned, struggling to hold onto consciousness as he tried and failed to move.  
  
There was chaos, fire, and blurs of motion all around him as he willed himself to get up, knowing he had to protect his brothers.  
  
Gun shots rang out. Bullets whizzing past him at an alarming rate, Arthur trying to dodge them as he heaved himself along the ground, fingers ripping into the grass below him as he crawled behind one of the tents, desperately trying to get a visual on John and Sean.  
  
Using a tree to get himself vertical, he felt like he was going to throw up any second.  
  
"ARTHUR!"  
  
John!  
  
Forgetting the nausea and the unbearable throbbing in his head, Arthur ran towards the call to find John at the mercy of the camp's invaders.  
  
"Leave him alone..." Arthur stated threateningly.  
  
The man holding his brother laughed.  
  
Two sets of hands grabbed him, shoving him down to his knees in the dirt as hs fought their hold.  
  
John looked terrified as he almost vibrated in sheer panic and fear.  
  
"It's okay, John. It's gonna' be okay, you hear me?" He tried to reassure.  
  
"Don't lie to the boy..."  
  
Arthur growled before getting a left hook across the face, another following, resulting in a resounding crunch in his nose.  
  
The thug shoved his gun against his brother’s head.  
  
“LEAVE HIM ALONE!” Arthur bellowed.  
  
He began to laugh.  
  
“You’re not in a position to be giving me orders, boy.”  
  
“What do you want?"  
  
"We want money, valuables."  
  
"I don't have anything."  
  
"I find that hard to believe in a camp like this."  
  
"I have nothing to give you, I'm sorry, just please... please let my brother go, he's just a kid." Arthur pleaded.  
  
Another masked thug walked over with his hands full of the gang's accumulated assets of the metallic kind.  
  
"Found a couple of guns worth taking, some silver pocket watches, and a couple of hundred bucks from that old tin over there. Few horses we could take too."  
  
The apparent leader sighed before producing a large knife from his belt and holding it close to Arthur's neck.  
  
"Don't come looking for us or next time I might not be so kind."  
  
He stood up, the rest of his gang retreating from the camp on newly acquired horseback in celebratory manner of a job well done.  
  
Arthur deflated, terrified and pained.  
  
John hadn't moved either, still knelt in the same spot they'd forced him down on.  
  
"Sean..." He half-whispered, half-wheezed to himself as he groaned to his feet on shaky legs. Arthur stumbled across towards the fire where he found Javier drenched through alongside Sean, the two having used the water of the lake to hide.  
  
Sean looked as if he was going to burst out crying the second he caught sight of Arthur, the older brother only then remembering how bad he must look after the hits he so kindly received from the thugs.  
  
The young boy didn't look him in the eye as he sprinted past towards their tent.  
  
"Holy shit..." Javier looked around at the trashed camp.  
  
Arthur took a seat on the log by the fire.  
  
The sound of approaching hooves could be heard before hearty laughter signalling the return of the gang from their job in town.  
  
He tried not to wince at the speed in which their content turned to horror, anger, and confusion.  
  
"What the fuck happened?!" Dutch bellowed.  
  
"They broke my..."  
  
"My watch is gone..."  
  
"Where's my..."  
  
Endless statements about lost or broken possessions and lodgings followed before the gang wanted answers.  
  
Dutch, despite Hosea trying to calm him down, stormed over to Arthur and grabbed him by the collar, pulling him upright and charging them backwards until the boy smacked into the bark of a large tree, holding him against it.  
  
"You did this!"  
  
"I didn't!" He knew he was fucked. "I didn't, I swear."  
  
"You no good, worthless, piece of crap!"  
  
"Dutch!" Hosea released Arthur, leaving the boy to catch his breath as he tried to reason with his friend. "Look at him. Really look at him."  
  
The gang leader turned to Arthur, and if a veil had been lifted, he took in the boy's broken nose, almost swollen closed eye, bruised cheek, and bleeding head.  
  
"...'m sorry." Arthur apologised, shame in his expression as he couldn't bring himself to make eye contact with the two older men.  
  
Javier walked over, still dripping.  
  
"They raided us, that's the truth. Didn't catch any names, but this wasn't some planned operation, they held up Arthur for money he never had and took what they could just so it wasn't a total bust."  
  
"Where the hell were you in all this?"  
  
Javier looks disgusted.  
  
"Trying to stop them from killing a six-year-old boy, just like Arthur stepped in to stop them from shooting John. We did what we could, they got lucky with their timing and you weren't here, that's on you, not us."  
  
He walked off towards his tent.  
  
Arthur said nothing more as he followed suit, leaving the two older men as he walked down to the lake to try and clean himself up a little. He successfully washed away the blood before deciding that his wounds would survive the night, not exactly feeling like he could ask for first aid supplies right this very moment, or someone to volunteer to apply them for him.  
  
And so he made his way back to their tent, hearing the disgruntled grumblings of camp members as he passed.  
  
His brothers were already curled up, John comforting a tearful Sean.  
  
Arthur discarded his jacket and boots before lying down beside them.  
  
"Hey, hey, hey..." He softly cood as he stroked a hand down his little brother's arm. "It's okay."  
  
Sean turned from John and shuffled closer against Arthur's chest, the eldest wrapping his arms reassuringly around the younger.  
  
"You're safe now, okay? We're all safe. I got you, just try to sleep, okay? Everything will be better in the morning."  
  
Arthur had a strong feeling it wouldn't.


	5. Paying a Social Call

For Arthur, sleep did not come easy that night. He tossed and turned on his bedroll in the throws of a nightmare before gasping awake.  
  
"Fuck..." He muttered under his breath, wincing as his nose throbbed.  
  
Arthur gently shuffled out from the tent and walked over to the lake, sitting down on a log overlooking the water and taking a deep breath.  
  
Light footsteps approached before the log dipped slightly.  
  
"You okay?" John's whispered tone asked.  
  
"I'm fine. You should be asleep."  
  
"Can't." Came a very small reply.  
  
The elder pulled his younger brother close against his side, never having heard him admit his fears so openly.  
  
"You, are one of the bravest kids around, do you know that?"  
  
"No I'm not, I was useless."  
  
"You're alive, that's what matters."  
  
"They took people's stuff, and Dutch was really mad. What's going to happen now?"  
  
Arthur sighed.  
  
"I don't know, we'll have to find out."

* * *

**One Year Later**  
  
Spring had sprung with flowers blooming across the acres of fields surrounding the new camp in Scarlett Meadows.  
  
The brothers had well and truly settled into camp life now, Hosea having not only replaced Arthur's previously stolen horse, but finding another for John too, allowing the boys to go out riding together before the sun set over the peaceful backdrop of the lakes and streams.  
  
Arthur had taken to wearing his father's hat, and thanks to the goodwill of Dutch, had been able to buy a larger selection of clothes for both himself and his brothers.  
  
He had also learnt to read and write too. John was getting ever closer to becoming literate as well after countless lessons with Hosea or Dutch by the campfire.  
  
As a reward for his efforts, Hosea had bought him a journal, stating that he should write down the stories he told Sean every night before bed, quoting a potential career as a published author.  
  
Having never expected to take to writing stuff down in a journal, Arthur grew to appreciate the routine, turning to doodles and sketches when he found himself lacking something to do in camp.  
  
He noticed that his fellow gang members tended to leave him gifts of pencils found in their travels, which he would never cease to appreciate.  
  
But the biggest development in his life, was Mary.  
  
He'd met the girl at the side of the road when she called out asking for a ride home, a dead horse being the cause of her distress.  
  
Arthur had agreed, getting the chance to talk to the girl on the ride back to her home, the two bonding along the way.  
  
He'd met the father, and had to deal with the embarrassment of so openly being judged as unworthy and lesser dirt under the boot of men like him at the top of the social standing food chain.  
  
Regardless though, Mary had been speaking out of the house frequently so that they could spend time together. He'd even taken her back to the camp once, which went... interestingly.  
  
While some of the camp members seemed enthused by the idea of their boy finding love, others were not so thrilled. John, for instance, immediately disliked Mary, refusing to make even the smallest of conversation with her outside of a quick greeting.  
  
Sean was the complete opposite, the seven-year-old's only argument being annoyance that he couldn't go with them.  
  
After Arthur had rode her back home, Hosea had approached him in camp asking if they could chat. There he told him to be careful, and not to get his heart set so quickly on the girl.  
  
After robbing a stage coach with Dutch and Bill a week or so prior, Arthur had come across a wedding band which he had swiftly pocketed.  
  
As the sun rose over a new day, he picked up the ring from where he had been keeping it hidden and rode to Mary's house.  
  
He proposed to her amongst the gardens, with brightly coloured flowers painting the scene around them as Arthur held up the little ring.  
  
Mary accepted, offering him a peck on the cheek.  
  
Turns out he should have listened to Hosea.

* * *

Two months later, and Arthur's visits were almost daily now. Upon arrival, Mary was sat out on a bench in the garden, tears in her eyes.  
  
"What's wrong?" He dismounted his horse and walked over, taking a seat next to her.  
  
"Oh, Arthur... Daddy is such a cruel man. He runs his business heartlessly without a care in the world for the poor folk whose lives he's ruining in process."  
  
"I don't know much about business, but I'm sure he ain't alone in how he handles things. The country is changing, Mary, and people like him, they're becoming more and more abundant. And most worryingly, more prominent than folk like us who try and do the right thing, whatever that is."  
  
"You run with outlaws, Arthur."  
  
"We're better people than those power hungry monsters. The last bank job we did, we took the money we earned from it and gave it out to the poor."  
  
"You robbed a bank?"  
  
"Dutch called it wealth redistribution."  
  
"The law would call it a crime."  
  
"No one got hurt, no one died, and a lot of parents were able to feed their kids that night, I'll take that as a win."  
  
Mary took a breath.  
  
"Arthur. Could you... Would you ever consider leaving that life and settling down somewhere? With me?"  
  
Arthur looked torn.  
  
"I can't. I have people I have to take care of. My family. They need me, and I need them."  
  
"I won't live like that, Arthur." She slipped the ring from her finger and pressed it to his palm. "I'm sorry."  
  
"So this is it? After everything, you're backing out because you still think you're better than us?"  
  
"It's not like that, Arthur."  
  
"It sure seems that way."  
  
Mary exhaled, standing up from the bench and turning away from him.  
  
"You should go."  
  
And he did.

* * *

Riding through the trees into camp, Arthur looked a broken man, the ring feeling heavy in the pocket of his jacket.  
  
Javier spotted him first, offering a smile.  
  
"Welcome back, amigo."  
  
Arthur only offered a small smile as he dismounted, crossing over to his satchel and dumping the ring inside it, glad to be rid of the thing.  
  
"Arthur, my boy." Hosea greeted before noticing his expression. "What's wrong?"  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
"You don't look fine, what happened?"  
  
"Me and Mary ain't never together no more." He finally answered.  
  
Hosea sighed.  
  
"I'm sorry, Arthur, young love is a harsh mistress." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a note. "Here."  
  
Arthur furrowed an eyebrow.  
  
"What's that for?"  
  
"Mr. Smith." Hosea called.  
  
Charles walked over.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
He handed over the note.  
  
"How do you fancy taking yourself and Arthur into town and having a few drinks to cheer him up a little?"  
  
"Hosea, it's fine..."  
  
"I know it's fine, but the first step in situations like this is distraction. Go have fun and come back in one piece later on."  
  
"Thanks, Hosea." Arthur nodded before walking with Charles towards their horses.  
  
"Are you okay, Arthur?" Asked his friend in concern.  
  
"Yeah, just... having a day of it, that's all. Mary gave me the ring back so, that's that I suppose."  
  
"Oh, Arthur. I'm sorry to hear that."  
  
They rode out.  
  
"It's okay, I was sorta' expecting something like this anyway."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Me and Mary, we was from different worlds. Her family had the silver spoon shoved up their asses and I... didn't. She couldn't commit to the idea of our way of life, and I wouldn't ever leave my brothers to commit to the idea of hers. Something had to give, and I guess this is how it has to be."  
  
"She doesn't know what she gave up."  
  
Arthur smiled.

* * *

Reaching Rhodes, the two young outlaws rode in the town, hitching their horses outside the saloon.  
  
"A few quiet drinks and then back to camp."  
  
"Well Hosea gave us a small fortune to pay with so I think we'll be fine." Charles smirked.  
  
"I take it that last job he took with Dutch must have gone well judging by the fact that he had about fifty more of these in that stack."  
  
"Money practically falls into the hands of those two."  
  
Arthur pushed open the door.  
  
"Must be nice."  
  
They walked over to the bar.  
  
"Two whiskeys please." Arthur ordered.

* * *

**Five Hours Later**  
  
"Run, Arthur! Runnnnn!" Charles shouted in encouragement as the young outlaws sprinted down the street from a group of angry men chasing them down.  
  
"Fuckkkkk."  
  
Charles reached his horse first, mounting up before noticing Arthur's was nowhere to be seen.  
  
"Climb on."  
  
Arthur nodded, drunkenly clambering on, holding tight as they sped off out of town. He whistled, hoping that she might hear it and follow them back.  
  
"Ughhh, I feel sick." Charles groaned, pulling a face.  
  
"Slow down."  
  
"You think we're safe enough to do that?"  
  
Arthur shrugged.  
  
Charles decreased their speed as they reached the fields, hoping the men hadn't bothered to follow them.  
  
Arthur smirked.  
  
"Well that went well."  
  
"I blame you for everything that happened back there."  
  
"Says you. I wasn't the one who knocked out the bar keep."  
  
"That was an accident." He gently shoved Arthur, which proved a mistake.  
  
Due to a drunken lack of coordination, Arthur fell backwards off the horse, landing amongst the flowers in the field.  
  
"Oh god. Arthur!"  
  
All Charles heard in response was Arthur laughing hysterically on his back.  
  
"Help me up you piece of shit!" He called.  
  
Charles burst out laughing too, helping his friend up.  
  
"Come on, the camp is just on the other side of those trees."  
  
Approaching hooves could be heard before Arthur's horse appeared.  
  
"Ayyyy, good girl!" He praised.  
  
Charles linked arms with Arthur as they walked back to the camp, stumbling heavily in their path.  
  
Hosea was on watch when they got there, shaking his head upon sight of them.  
  
"Is there any point in asking if the two of you had fun?"  
  
They smirked.  
  
"Sleep it off."  
  
"Yes, Sir."  
  
They trodded through the camp towards their tents.


	6. No Expectations

"Arthur!" Called the voice of Dutch.

Arthur rubbed away the sleep from his eyes as he made his way across the camp.

"Yeah?"

"Make yourself useful and go and catch us some fish to eat."

Arthur pulled a face.

"Me?"

"Is there anyone else called Arthur in this camp?"

"I mean, why me? I'm not exactly an expert when it comes to fishing."

"All the more reason to go out there then. You gotta' learn, boy." Dutch smirked before walking off.

"Can I come?" Sean asked, excitedly.

"No, you need to stay here and help Miss. Grimshaw, remember? She's making you new clothes."

"Awwww, but that's borrrrring."

"Trust me, I would much rather be here then bored out of my brains up river for hours trying catch some damn fish."

"Fine." Sean walked off.

Arthur collected the fishing rod Hosea had provided him with during his fishing lessons and mounted up on Artemis.

"Come on, boy... let's get this over with."

* * *

Two hours later and he'd caught nothing.

Well, nothing but tiddlers he'd had to just keep throwing back.

Their new camp's location was anything but bountiful when it came to both animals to hunt, and fish, and Arthur was tired of being moaned at by the other members of the gang when he came back with nothing more than a rabbit and a squirrel.

"You know what, fuck this."

Arthur collapsed the fishing rod, stuffing into into the saddlebag before mounting up and heading into town.

* * *

Walking into the saloon, it was pretty quiet, just the odd drunkard stood downing their pint merrily.

Arthur grinned, snaking past each of them on the way to the bar, relieving them of wallets as he went.

"My apologies, sir."

He stuffed them all into his pocket before paying for a drink.

"Whiskey, please."

"Long day?" Asked the bartender.

"Ehh, just been trying to catch some fish."

"Any luck?"

"Nahh, not the best spot."

The bartender handed over his glass.

"Cheers."

He downed the drink in two gulps before placing it down on the bar.

"Thanks."

Arthur offered smiles to each of his unsuspecting victims before making his way outside to Artemis.

It was then that he had an idea.

He walked down the street to the fishmonger.

"Excuse me, Sir, you still open?"

"You caught me at the right time. What can I do you for?"

Arthur took out the money from his pocket.

"I'll take three bass."

"Perfect." The fishmonger began to wrap them up for him.

"Here you go." Arthur handed over the stolen currency. "Thank you."

"Have a nice evening."

"You too."

Returning to Artemis, he stared at him.

"What?! They'll never know."

He mounted up.

"Let's get back to camp."

* * *

They dined on the fish he had bought that night, no one in the camp any the wiser to what he had done to acquire them.

Arthur walked over towards the fire and felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

"See, I told you, practice makes perfect."

It was Dutch.

"Yeah, I don't know. It's still fucking miserable to stand out there in the river all day."

"You were gone for three hours..." Dutch smirked.

"Still, it's... I prefer hunting." Arthur answered, honestly.

"Hosea has always been the fisherman of the gang."

"Then by all means send him, keep Charles and I reserved for hunting duty."

"Well regardless, you did a good job today, I'm proud of you."

Arthur internally winced.

"Thanks, Dutch."

He smiled before walking off towards the campfire.

John walked over, furrowing an eyebrow.

"Oooh, what did you do?"

Arthur looked confused.

"What?"

"That's your, 'I've done something stupid' face."

"No it's not!"

"Sure, Arthur." John spotted the money in his hand. "Where did you get all that? Weren't you out fishing?"

"Shhhh." Arthur shot a look at his brother.

"Fine, whatever." He walked off.

The elder rolled his eyes as he put the money in the tin and headed off to bed.

* * *

**One Week Later**

They rode into town in search of food to restock their ever-dwindling supply, Arthur being dragged along with Hosea and Dutch despite his attempts to wriggle out of going.

"What do we need?" Dutch asked.

"Food." Arthur answered.

"Shut up, Arthur..."

Hosea chuckled.

"I thought kids were only like this when they were teenagers."

"Arthur here proves that theory wrong."

Arthur shook his head.

"Most kids don't have two old men driving them crazy."

"Who are you calling old?!" Hosea retorted in fake offence.

"You, and him." Arthur pointed between them.

"Kids these days, no respect." Dutch smirked, walking towards the market.

Arthur caught sight of the fishmonger's stall and winced, hoping that he wouldn't be...

"So how did you enjoy those bass?"

Screwing his eyes together, he buried his face in his hand.

Dutch and Hosea's faces lit up as they turned to Arthur, who was now bright red in embarrassment.

"Oh, they were just divine." Hosea replied, placing his hand on Arthur's shoulder. "Couldn't have caught them better myself."

"Glad to hear it."

Arthur walked off, knowing that he was never going to hear the end of this. Approaching Artemis, he took an apple from his saddlebag and fed him.

"Good, boy." He stroked a hand through his horse's mane, noticing his hand was shaking. He was worried about how the two men were going to take the news that he had flat out lied to them. In a gang so strongly ran on trust, he had broken that, and Arthur wasn't sure what would become of something like this.

"Arthur..."

It was Hosea.

"I'm sorry." He apologised immediately, keeping his eyes tracked on Artemis. "It honestly weren't for lack of trying, I just couldn't catch anything."

"Where did you get the money?"

"After I uhh, gave up on fishing, I headed into town and robbed some folk in the saloon, no one but drunk fools askin' to be swindled. I was just gonna' head back and count my losses but then I saw that guy's stall and thought I might as well take the chance. I didn't think he'd remember me, and I never wanted the praise I got back at camp, it just felt... wrong and unwarranted, which it was, I suppose, I hadn't earned it, so I shouldn't have gotten it. John clocked me immediately, he knew something was up, and he even knew I shouldn't have had the amount of money I did." Arthur sighed. "I put the rest I hadn't spent on the fish in the camp tin by the way."

Hosea looked at the young boy and the worry resonating off him.

"So what you're saying is, your plan was derailed by a fishmonger."

Arthur smirked.

"Yeah, I suppose it was."

The older man shook his head.

"That's the biggest travesty in this whole thing."

Dutch walked over with the food.

"We can keep this between the three of us, can't we, Dutch?" Hosea asked.

"Of course." Dutch chuckled regardless. "I must commend you on the execution, son, but you didn't factor in any impromptu trips to town."

"I didn't factor in anything, I just wanted to go home."

Hosea and Dutch exchanged smiles at the boy's use of the word 'home' but didn't say anything.

"Come on, let's head back."

Arthur mounted Artemis.

"You gonna' say you two caught that deer yourselves?" He teased.

"Shut up, Arthur." Dutch retorted.

Arthur burst out laughing.


	7. True Love

It was a few summers later when Arthur returned to camp one day to find a new girl hanging around the place.

When he asked Hosea about her, the older man seemed to want no part in it, but he found out soon after from Sean that her name was Iris, his little brother having overheard Bill talking about them picking her up from the local town and bringing her back for some fun.

No wonder Hosea was so against it.

Arthur kept to himself that week, going out on hunts and generally just doing odd-jobs for Dutch and Hosea. This was of course after telling John outright to keep away from the Iris girl, a sixth sense telling him she was bound to be trouble.

Returning back one night he walked towards the fire to the scene of John and Iris laughing away to themselves.

Of course he didn't fucking listen...

"John, help me unload the cart."

He heard the sound of his younger brother's groan before...

'I'll just be over by the horses if you need me.'

'But what about-'

'The guy's aren't back from the saloon yet, it's just us, Arthur, Sean, and Miss. Grimshaw, and they won't give you any trouble.' John explained softly. 'I won't be long.'

Arthur was soon joined by his brother.

"So, you really followed what I said in our talk then."

"Oh give it a rest, Arthur... She's a nice woman."

"She's trouble it was she is."

"No she ain't, she's real kind, and she's funny too." John smiled.

Arthur noticed this.

"You like her, don't you?"

"Not like that, I just... I don't know, she seemed real lonely, and scared so I started talking to her. The other guys left her alone after that, obviously didn't want to interrupt, but we ain't done nothing, we just talked, that's all."

The eldest Morgan brother smiled a little.

"I can finish up here. Why don't you go back over there with Iris."

John nodded.

"Thanks, Arthur."

* * *

John returned to the fire where he saw Iris yawning.

"You should get some rest. Here."

John motioned towards his tent and bedroll.

"Are you sure?"

"'Course, you shouldn't have to sleep out under the sky."

"Thank you, mister."

"Call me John. Mister makes me sound old."

She giggled before lying down, John coming to rest next to her.

After a few minutes, Iris raised a hand to caress his cheek before it travelled south.

"Woah. No, no, no, you don't need to do that."

Iris looked offended.

"I know."

"I didn't mean..." John took a breath. "Look, Iris. I don't want that, I just thought you could use a place to sleep where you'd maybe feel a little safer. And that's all we're doing, just sleeping. Sound good?"

She smiled.

"Yeah, it does."

"Good. Then in that case, goodnight, Iris."

"Abigail."

He furrowed an eyebrow.

"What?"

"My name is Abigail, my real one, I mean."

John smiled.

"That is a beautiful name for a beautiful lady."

Abigail giggled.

"Shut up."

He smirked.

* * *

Abigail soon became a fully fledged member of the gang. John and her married a few months after. Nothing official, just words and love for one another being their union.

Jack was born in the spring three-years-later. After the birth though, things quickly changed, and his brother left in the middle of the night with no trail.

Arthur's anger dwindled more and more into worry and concern with every month as he hoped that John would return home safe and wasn't already dead somewhere.

* * *

"I'm eighteen, Arthur!" Sean stated, firmly.

"Good for you."

"Why are you being like this?"

"I'm not letting you got on that raid, come back in two years and I'll think about it."

"Are you kidding?!"

"Dutch won't let you do shit either so don't even bother going to him."

"But John..."

"John is twenty-one, and as you might have noticed, he isn't here. Not that he was really doing much of the heavy lifting either, that's my job."

"You can't protect us forever."

Arthur scoffed, shaking his head as he walked off.

"Watch me."

Herr Strauss, having overheard the conversation, turned to Arthur.

"Why can't the boy go?"

"Because, for one, he's a boy, just like you said, and two, Dutch has a rule; no one under twenty-one does the dangerous shit. Hunting's fine once you're eighteen, but Sean couldn't give a crap about doing that, either could John, that's just left to me, the camp pack mule. No they want to go out there and shoot crap, which ain't happening."

"He'll come around." Herr Strauss offered.

Arthur smirked.

"No he won't. This is Sean we're talking about. The kid will outlive God to have the last word. He stays in his little tantrums longer than anyone should and getting him out of them is not worth the effort sometimes."

"So what's your plan?"

"The usual. Set Hosea on him." Arthur grinned, mischievously.

Strauss burst out laughing.

"That's evil."

"I know, it's brilliant."

* * *

Hearing the sound of light singing close to his tent, Arthur peered past the fabric to see Sean holding baby Jack in his arms, lightly rocking the little boy back and forth.

"But come ye back when summer's in the meadow. Or when the valley's hushed and white with snow. 'Tis I'll be here in sunshine or in shadow. Oh, Jackie boy, oh Jackie boy, I love you so."

Jack gurgled.

Sean smiled.

"I'll make an Irishman of you yet, Jack, just you wait. You can ignore anything your Da or Uncle Arthur say, you'll soon find out I'm the cool uncle."

Arthur smirked.

Sean turned to him.

"Speaking of Uncle Arthur, it's his turn with you."

"Give him here."

Sean handed Jack over into his brother's waiting arms

"Look, Arthur... I'm sorry about earlier."

"It's fine."

"I was being an arse and Hosea made me realise that you're just looking out for me."

Arthur patted his brother on the shoulder.

"Get some sleep."

Sean nodded before walking off towards his own tent.

"Hello, Jack. Let's get some sleep now that you've had your lullaby, yeah?"

His response were light wisps of air against his chest, his nephew having fallen asleep already."

Arthur smiled, holding the boy a little closer and joining him in slumber.

* * *

"Who's there?" Arthur heard the voice of Bill demand from just outside the camp before...

"Holy shit."

"John!" Shouted Sean from across the camp, rushing over to his brother. "Where the hell have you been you sneaky bastard?"

John smirked, eyes glancing around before they landed on Arthur who vaguely looked in his direction before walking off.

Sean noticed this and clapped a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"What were you expecting? You disappeared on us for a year, man."

"I need to work some things out."

"You should have told him." Sean stated before sighing. "Don't tell him I said this but once, when he got drunk, he got real said with Charles 'cause he thought you might be dead."

John looked pale.

"You shouldn't have done that to him, John. It's Arthur. I mean, he practically raised the pair of us."

"I know."

"Then get your arse to bed so you can beg for his forgiveness tomorrow."

"I uhh..."

"Let me guess, you don't fancy a reunion with the missus tonight?"

"Not really."

"You can share my tent, it'll be like old times."

"Why aren't you angry with me?"

"I was. When we realised you weren't coming back, I was furious. Cursed up a storm about you, and called you practically every name under the sun, I did. But then it just got sad to be honest. I missed my brother and I just wanted ya' back. You're staying this time, right?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Good."

They reached Sean's tent.

Sean lay down on the bedroll before he was joined by John. They lay on their backs looking up at the stars above them.

"Remember when we first came to stay with the gang back when we were kids."

"You were like six, how do you even remember that?"

"I don't know, just do. I remember Miss. Grimshaw making up that tiny tent for the three of us, we barely had any room to breathe."

"Was better than the alternative."

"I can't remember the alternative."

"Arthur didn't want you to. He was determined to keep you as a kid for as long as possible. Now can we get some sleep, I'm tired."

"Oooh, grumpy."

"Sean."

"Fine."

As the hours passed and the night grew colder, the two brothers lay asleep, Sean wrapped up in his blanket while John shivered in the chilling breeze.

Arthur walked over to the tent and placed his blanket down over his younger brother before returning to bed.


	8. Urban Pleasures

A few years later saw them camped out the outskirts of Blackwater. Arthur had been planning with Hosea on something that seemed promising. Dutch on the other hand had a plan of his own, one that he was anything but keen on. There seemed to be too many risks involved but there was no deterring the older man. Arthur knew the reason why. Dutch had picked up a new guy by the name of Micah Bell when he was out on a job a few months back and the slimy toad had slowly been convincing the leader ever since.

Arthur had stated that he wanted absolutely no part in the heist at all, making sure to tell (or more like threaten) every member of the gang involved in the plan to keep John and Sean the fuck out of it.

The camp had a weird feel to it in the run up to the Blackwater heist that didn't seem to calm his nerves either. John and Javier had been going out together more and more to bring in cash for the group which was proving to be evermore successful with each trip. Sean was slowly getting better and better with his aim, the now young adult still as stubborn and big mouthed as ever. And of course, Micah was still a dick.

Sean walked towards the coffee pot when he noticed Micah, sat on a crate beside Dutch's tent, stick out his foot to trip over little Jack.

As intended, the young boy fell onto the grass with a look of confusion, eyes filling with tears.

He stormed over.

"Hey!"

Sean picked up Jack, holding him tight in his arms, almost snarling in anger towards Micah.

"You stay away from my nephew or so help me god you're a dead man!"

Arthur walked over, obviously having heard the shouting.

"What's going on?"

"Micah here thinks it's funny to go around tripping over five-year-olds." Sean replied as he bobbed Jack up and down, trying to distract him from crying.

It was Arthur's turn to look angry.

"You're a pathetic excuse for a man, ain't ya'..." His tone was low and threatening before he turned to Sean. "You go take Jack someplace else while I talk to Mr. Bell here."

Sean nodded, walking off towards the stream.

"Let's go see what we can spot, yeah?"

"Okay." Came a sad response.

"You are SO brave, you know that, my little buddy. Don't let that idiot get you upset, he's not worth it."

He set them both down amongst the tall straw.

Jack immediately started to play with it.

"I bet you miss the flowers from the old camp."

The young boy nodded.

"If this plan goes south then you might get to see them again." Sean muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"Nevermind." He smiles in distraction. "There's a lot of cool animals here though, right? And you love animals."

"Yeah I do!" Jack beamed.

Hearing footsteps, Sean turned to see Abigail looking worried as she approached.

"Ahh, there's Mammy, you gonna' go give her a hug?"

Jack nodded eagerly, standing up to be swept into her arms.

"Are you okay?" She gave him a squeeze.

"He's a brave one, right Jack?"

"Yeah!" Jack giggled.

Arthur walked over to them, Sean noticed the purpling skin on his knuckles and smirked.

"Have fun?"

His older brother grinned.

"I'm gonna' kill him." John grumbled as he walked over too.

"Yeah, John helped." Arthur added.

"Good, I'm just jealous I didn't get a turn." Sean ruffled his nephew's hair. "If he does or says anything to you then you come and get one of us, okay Jack?"

"Okay." Jack nodded.

"Good boy."


	9. The Disaster

Hosea and Arthur's plan in Blackwater was over before it even started. While they went into town to put the final elements of the robbery into place, the others left unannounced to carry out their own robbery on that ferry Micah had told Dutch about.

And that's when everything had fell apart.

Arthur had returned to find the camp to find both his brothers gone. Panic in his eyes, he stormed over to Uncle asleep by the fire and kicked him awake.

"Where are they?"

"Where's who?"

"Jack and Sean, where are they?"

"They went with the boys on that raid." Karen explained, walking over.

Arthur's eyes widened before he growled. "Son of a bitch!" He turned to Uncle. "I told everyone in this camp that they weren't going!"

Abigail joined them.

"John didn't wanna' go, Micah taunted him into it, and Sean... well, it's Sean, of course he wanted to go as soon as John said he would."

"I'm going to kill every last one of them..."

"Help! We need some help here!"

Frantic hooves sprinted into the camp, Arthur rushing over to them.

"What happened?"

But his question was answered as he caught of his little brother lying limp, tied to his horse.

"John!"

"He got shot." Charles answered.

Arthur undid the bindings before gently getting John down from the horse, supporting him over to his tent and laying him on the bed. He looked back over to the others as realisation kicked in.

It was then that his world collapsed once again as he scrubbed a hand down his face.

"Where is he?"

"We don't have time for this, Arthur, we need to go, the law is on us."

Arthur wasn't taking that shit, storming closer to the gang leader, getting up in his face with gritted teeth.

"You better tell me where the fuck my brother is or so help me god..."

Dutch sighed.

"We don't know. He got arrested, or shot, or killed, we don't know, no one saw."

"Goddammit." Arthur scrunched his hand into a fist as he turned away, pacing in anger.

"Arthur we're..."

"Oh, don't you dare." He shook his head. "I told you not to take them. You promised me you wouldn't. I knew this would happen, I just knew, and it did."

"We lost Mac, Jenny, and Davey too, not that you seem to care." Micah stated.

Arthur looked between Dutch and Hosea in disbelief.

"So that's what we got out of this 'masterplan' you've been cooking up, three men dead, my brother lost, my other brother with a bullet in his chest, no money, and yet another chase from the law?"

"We will survive this." Dutch responded. "The job went south, we couldn't have planned for what went down back there but we can take this back into our own hands by getting the hell out of here before the law show up."

"We can't leave Sean, if he's alive back there then they'll kill him looking for us."

"The kid can talk the hind legs off a mule, he'll find a way out of there." Javier added.

"Miss. Grimshaw! Mr. Pearson! Get this camp packed, we leave in an hour." Dutch announced.


	10. Lonesome Town

The journey through the mountains proved a harsh one, the deep snow slowing their pace down to an almost halt, visibility low as they trudged on. The bitter chill was getting to every single one of them, especially John who had only a few days before been shot, his wounds aching with every shiver.

"You doing okay?"

"I'm freezing, but I'll manage."

"Well it's your own damn fault for going on that job when you weren't supposed to."

"I didn't have a choice."

"Suuuuure you didn't. That's a whole pile of shit if you ask me. And then you were dumb enough to take Sean with you too."

John looked pale at the mention, eyes moving away from his brother's.

Arthur sighed, regretting his words instantly.

"Look, John... what happened to Sean, it weren't your fault."

"I was keeping an eye on him, making sure he was behind me, but when I got that bullet, I lost track of him."

"That's why I'm sorry. I know Micah didn't leave you much choice."

"Sean was going regardless of what I said, I just thought it would be safer for me to go with 'im. A fat lot of good that did."

John's had shook, turning a harsh shade.

Arthur readjusted the hands around him upwards so they rested under the armpits of his coat for a little extra warmth.

"Thanks."

"No problem, but remind me that we need to get you some gloves."

"I weren't exactly expecting a scenic detour like this."

"None of us were. We just need to hope that we find somewhere for shelter tonight, I don't think any of us would survive another night out in the elements."

"Are Jack and Abigail okay?"

Arthur looked back at the procession of horses and cart to see Abigail riding with Tilly, and Jack talking the ear off Hosea.

He smirked.

"Yeah, they're fine."

"This is a mess." John grumbled with a shiver.

"You can say that again..."

* * *

Having made camp in an old town in Colter, they set about finding food and supplies.

Despite being in recovery for his bullet wound, Dutch insisted that John scout the area stating that it would be good for him to get back on his feet.

Although highly opposed to the idea, Arthur eventually agreed, thinking maybe it would benefit his brother to potentially redeem some of his self-confidence lost in the Blackwater heist.

But of course, he had reason to worry.

"Arthur!" Abigail rushed over as he returned from a hunt with Charles. "John hasn't been back in days, you need to go find him."

Arthur nodded, walking past to Dutch.

"Where did you send him?"

"Further up the mountain."

"For shelter?" He furrowed an eyebrow.

"For anything."

"Fine." Arthur turned to Javier who he noticed had approached. "You coming?"

"Sure, if I was the one out there, John would come look for me."

"Okay, let's go."

* * *

Stood in the hollow in the mountain, Arthur took a long swig of the whiskey Javier had offered before rubbing his hands together.

"You know, I'm starting to think my brothers just have a magnet for trouble."

"Starting to?" Javier smirked.

Arthur smiled. "Okay, so maybe it's not a recent thing. But they've been more reckless than ever recently, as if they're trying to prove themselves to someone."

"Well for John, it's Dutch."

"Yeah, that's an easy one. Sean's a little harder to read."

Javier scoffed. "He really isn't, the man's poker face is pathetic and get him drunk enough and he'll tell you his entire life story. It's you he tries to impress, Arthur."

It was Arthur's turn to scoff.

"No it ain't."

"Sean was younger when you met him, he's had longer to look up to you, that's all I'm saying."

"Doesn't make them listen to me though."

"That's just called being the older brother."

Arthur smirked.

"True."

"Come on, let's see if we can find bullet magnet."

* * *

"JOHN!" Arthur and Javier shouted one after the other.

"Over here!" Came the voice they were hoping to hear.

Rushing over to the ledge, Arthur looked down to see his brother covered from head to toe in blood, face, arms and torso shredded with thick claw marks. His eyes widened.

"Shit!"

"Some wolf try and make you it's dinner, Marston?" Javier smirked, clearly trying to distract himself from the horror in front of him.

Arthur dropped down to his level.

"Something like that." John groaned in reply, wincing as Arthur wrapped an arm around him, getting him to his feet.

"Well they certainly did a good job of redecorating your face if nothing else."

"Thanks, Arthur..." John replied, dryly.

"Ready? Three, two..." Arthur lifted his brother up to Javier who was waiting at the top of the ledge.

"Gah!"

"We've got you." Javier reassured. "You'll be fine, amigo." He smiled.

John scoffed, rolling his eyes with a smirk. "It had to be you that came."

"What, and miss the chance to rescue the damsel in distress? Never." He grinned.

"I hate you."

"Sure you do." Javier helped John onto the back of Arthur's horse which the older brother had now mounted.

"Do you know how long it took me to get you that horse?" Arthur teased.

"Shut up, Arthur..." John retorted.


	11. Pursued by a Memory

**A Couple Of Weeks Later**

'We got off the mountain and rode into some pretty enough country called the Heartlands. Ain't been this far east in many a year. Dutch seems a little better. His eyes are sparkling once more and I can see he's thinking a little clearer. I think we all feel a little happier spite of Blackwater and that whole mess. Still haven't found any signs of Sean. I'm holding out hope but it's hard when most around camp don't feel the same. John and I forget sometimes and call for him just to be met with silence. Those are the worst moments. Makes you remember what you've lost in the hardest way possible. We'll get him back. We will. There ain't nothing I wouldn't do to bring that kid home.'

Arthur closed his journal with a sigh.

"Arthur?"

It was Hosea.

"You wanna' go hunting?"

He scoffed at the size of the rifle the old man was holding.

"What are you hunting? An elephant?"

Hosea smirked.

"I wish. No, I saw a huge bear. One of the biggest I ever saw. I reckon nearly a thousand pounds."

Arthur's eyes widened.

"My god. What, you need me to come with you?"

"Of course. Let's go."

"Sir, yes, Sir." He teased, walking over to his horse and mounting up.

"Hyah!" Hosea led the way through the trees before they were out in the open fields.

"So where we headed?"

"Place called O'Creagh's Run, up in the mountains east of Cumberland Falls. I just hope I can remember how to get there."

"Aren't you sick of those mountains?" Arthur groaned.

"More than you can imagine, but at least this time we're the ones doing the chasing." Hosea glanced to the younger man. "So, how are things with you and John?"

"Fine."

"Ain't it about time you let it go now?"

"Hey, I sewed him up when he got shot in that Blackwater mess. I had to ride with the moany bastard all the way to Colter, and then rescued the idiot when he tried to get himself eaten by wolves. I think I've been more than civil with the kid."

"That's not what I meant."

"It was a year, Hosea. He ditched us for a goddamn year."

"I've spoken to him many times... he knows he did wrong, he just wants to put it behind him."

"I'm sure he does, but it don't work like that I'm afraid."

"Arthur, he's your brother..."

"Exactly! He's my brother. He's Sean's brother too but he sure didn't act like it when he decided to go off touring the country on his own letting us think he could be dead, all might I add, without even bothering to write a note."

Hosea went to speak but Arthur wasn't finished.

"And he ran out on Jack. And Abigail. But aside from that, there's a code, and he knows that. You and Dutch have been more than good to us over the years, you all have. Without the pair of you John would've swung when he was ten years old back in that stupid town. And I don't even wanna' think what would've become of us if you hadn't have taken us in."

"How many years has it been? Fifteen?"

"Nearly sixteen. Doesn't feel so long ago."

Hosea smiled.

"I'm glad we did find the three of you. Place would've been quiet otherwise."

"Anywhere is quiet without Sean in it." Arthur smirked.

Hosea laughed.

"That's very true, but he is a sweet boy, so's John when he ain't acting tough. I wonder where he learnt that from though..."

Arthur noticed the expectant look being thrown towards him.

"I don't know what you're implying."

"Sure you don't."

"I don't act tough." Arthur defended.

Hosea shook his head with a smirk.

"The three of you haven't changed a bit since you were younger, you know that?" He smiled, fondly.

"I sure hope we have."

"You know what I mean." Hosea stated. "Let's just say the three of you had strong personalities even from a young age. You were always stubborn and stern, John was a mini you, and Sean was... well, Sean."

"Why does everyone keep saying that John is trying to be me."

"Because they're not blind."

"Why the hell would anyone want to be me?" Arthur smirked.

"Arthur you have two little brothers, that's just called having siblings, especially given the circumstances." Hosea clarified. "They didn't exactly have father figures in their childhoods so you were the one they looked up to, you can see it clear as day."

"I still have no idea why you even took us in. I tried to rob the pair of you when we first met."

"Well I'll be honest, I wasn't exactly thrilled with the idea, but you know how Dutch is once his mind is made up on something. He saw something in you that I couldn't back then and I'm very glad he did because he was right."

"You make it sound like we were weren't three little scoundrels." Arthur smirked.

"What you were, Arthur, were three young orphans out on the streets. You held us up that day out of desperation to provide for a ten-year-old and a six-year-old in your charge. There is nothing immoral about that. I'm just glad we found you when you did, or like you said, your brother would've hanged, and I wouldn't wish that on anybody."

The younger man was lost for words, taking a deep breath as a smile came to his face.

"Thanks, Hosea. I know I don't say that enough as I should, but really, thanks. I appreciate everything you've done for us."

Hosea nodded.

"Come on, let's catch us that bear."


	12. Old Friends

The hunt proved... interesting to say the least, and Hosea had lost a few bells of self-confidence due to the whole affair, but they were alive.

Riding back into camp it was obvious that something was up.

Dismounted, Arthur walked over to see John just about ready to throw a punch at Bill.

"What the hell is going on?!"

John didn't answer, storming off.

"Yeah you better run!"

Arthur, not a fan of someone antagonising his little brother, closed in on Bill.

"You got a problem?"

"Yeah, that kid thinks he can talk to me like an idiot."

"I have no idea why."

Bill's anger deepened. "You got something to say, Morgan?"

"Maybe I have..." He stated, deciding to go for it. "You told me back at the old camp that you weren't taking John and Sean with you on that Blackwater heist, and you promised me you wouldn't let them go if they asked. Then I get back here after chasing up on some leads with Hosea to find one of my brothers shot ad the other missing. Now you can give me every excuse under the sun but I absolutely blame you for this. You and that idiot Micah."

"Arthur."

It was Charles.

"What?"

"Josiah sent a message, he's in Valentine."

"Good for him."

Dutch walked over.

"Arthur, leave the man alone."

"Why?"

"Because John and Sean were old enough to make their own decisions."

"I don't give a damn if they was. John nearly died, and you know fine well that Sean ain't no sharpshooter. The kid couldn't hit a target if you held it in front of his face."

"Arthur!"

"What?!"

"It's Sean."

That got Arthur's attention.

"What about Sean?"

"Josiah found him."

His eyes widened.

"You shoulda' led with that." Arthur nodded, walking back over to his horse. "John, stop sulking and get over here."

Charles was already in the process of mounting up.

John joined them.

"I'm coming too." Javier piped in.

"Thank you."

"No problem." He nodded. "Plus that son of a bitch hid my guitar someplace."

They smirked.

"Really?"

Javier sighed exasperatedly.

"He's a piece of work, but he's one of the good ones. You raised him right."

Arthur smiled.

"Let's head out, we're losing daylight."

* * *

Josiah stood out like a sore thumb in Valentine, the well-dressed man making a bold statement against the dirt and horse shit.

Arthur walked at a brisk pace over to him.

"Arthur, so good to see you."

"Yeah yeah, good to see you too. Where's my brother?"

"He's being held by some bounty hunters trying to see how much money the government will pay them. I know he's in Blackwater but there's talk of them moving him."

"If we step foot in Blackwater, well then we're dead men for sure." Charles stated.

"There'll be Pinkertons all over the place." Josiah added.

"I don't care, if it's too dangerous then you head back to camp, but I'm going."

"Me too." John nodded.

"Same here." Javier agreed.

"Never said I wasn't coming." Charles smirked.

"Then follow me gentlemen." Josiah nodded.

* * *

Lying atop the cliff overlooking Blackwater, Charles was scoping the place with binoculars, trying to get a visual on Sean without much luck. Arthur turned to Javier and John.

"What did Josiah say he was doing anyway?"

"The hell if I know, that guy is a mystery."

Arthur took a breath.

"You know, a part of me wonders why they haven't just hanged Sean already."

"I think he's bait, either that or they wanna' trial him publicly, make a statement of him."

"Gentlemen."

The four of them jumped, unaware of Josiah's newly emerged presence behind them.

He chuckled.

"Call yourself lookouts."

"Shut up. What did you find out?" Arthur asked, unamused.

"Sean is being moved up the Upper Montana then to a federal prison out west."

His eyes widened as his stomach dropped.

"We need to rescue him. Now. Or..."

"We're gonna' find him, Arthur." John stated determinedly.

"Ike Skelding's boys are moving him to a camp nearby before handing him over to the government."

"We need to stop them before they get to the camp."

"It's just a bunch of bounty hunters, we've dealt with worst that." Javier reassured.

"Charles, why don't you head up on the north side and then we'll head up on the other side of the valley and meet you, that way we have them either direction."

Charles nodded, heading off.

"Javier, John, Josiah, come on. Let's go see."

* * *

It didn't take long to locate the bounty hunters, and it took even less to take down the handful of gang members down by the river. Following the cliff face they soon reached the encampment and took out the remaining smattering.

"That's the last of them." Javier announced, but Arthur was preoccupied.

Rushing over to his brother, Arthur cut the rope while John stopped him from falling.

"Arthur. John. Nice to see ya'."

John smiled.

"You know, you're a lot less ugly from that other angle, Arthur." His little brother teased.

"Come on." Arthur helped him to his feet.

"Do I get a hug, Arthur? A warm embrace for a lost brother, now found?"

He smirked before pulling Sean close.

"You big idiot."

As he pulled away, he noticed Sean turn to John.

"John Marston, the answer to the question, 'how could an ugly man possibly get uglier'. What the fuck happened to ya'?"

"Shut up."

They both smirked before Sean grabbed his brother into a hug.

"You, are more trouble than you're worth." Arthur teased.

"I don't believe a word of that, Arthur. Knowing you you've probably been crying in your tent while writing in that flouncy diary of yours. I'm sure Mary-Beth would love your help writing those soppy romantic stories of hers, there might be a market for it."

Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Remind me why we rescued him again?"

John smirked.

"It was your idea."

"Then I'm an idiot."

Sean wrapped his arms around the his brother's shoulders.

"Ahh I've missed the pair of ya'." He smiled. "The Morgan brothers back in business."

"And peace is broken once again." Javier added.

"Shove off, guitar-boy."

"About my guitar, where the hell did you hide it?!"

Sean burst out laughing.

"I totally forgot I did that."

"Sean..." Arthur said, warningly.

Sean rolled his eyes.

"Fine. Give me a ride back and you might just magically find it along the way."

"Yeah, we should split up. I'll see you all back at camp." Arthur instructed.

"You underestimate how annoying of a passenger you are." Javier groaned, walking towards his horse.

"Aww, you love me really." Sean replied following behind.

Arthur and John smirked.

"I _really_ don't."


	13. Do Not Seek Absolution

"Arthur!"

It was Abigail.

"Could you do me a favour?"

"That sounds ominous." He teased.

Abigail hit him lightly on the arm.

"Well that's no way to ask for a favour." Arthur pretended to be fake offended.

"It is when you're dealing with the Morgan brothers." She smiled. "Anyway, could you do something with Jack?"

"Why?"

"Well, you know, his father's useless, Sean is out with Javier, and Jack seems kind of down right now. All this upheaval can't have been easy on the poor kid."

"So you turned to your preferred nursemaid?"

Abigail exhaled.

"I turned to you because you're his Uncle, one of his actual Uncles. Jack likes you, and you're good with him."

Arthur scrubbed a hand down his face.

"Sorry, I didn't mean that. Just been a lot happening the last few days, it's just catching up on me a little."

Abigail offered a soft smile.

"I know, don't worry about it. Dutch been running you ragged?"

"Between him, stressing about Sean, and then trying to rescue the damn fool, moving camps - twice, and trying to keep everyone fed while also not getting made into target practice by the law and the Pinkertons, it's been... interesting to say the least."

"Well you know I'm always here if you need to talk. There's not much for me to do around here but, I'll help where I can, just ask."

Arthur smiled.

"I appreciate that, Abigail." He glanced around the campsite. "Where is that nephew of mine anyway?"

"Knowing my son, probably knee deep in mud." She smirked. "Thank you for this."

Arthur nodded, tipping his hat a little before walking over to Jack.

"Whatchu' up to?"

"Playing." The young boy beamed up at him, contently.

"Anything fun?"

"I guess..."

"You wanna' come fishing with me?"

"Fishing?"

"Sure. You're...It's about time that you started to earn your keep."

"Okay!" Jack got to his feet.

"Good. Let's go get your pole then. You do have a fishing pole, don't you?"

"Uh huh, Uncle Hosea made me one."

"Then go get it then, and let's go catch us some fish."

Jack ran off.

Arthur smirked.

"More like Grandpa Hosea now."

"I heard that!" Came the voice of Hosea.

He laughed, walking over and mounting his horse, waiting for the young boy to return.

"Here, Uncle Arthur!"

Jack held out his fishing rod, which Arthur stored in the side of the saddle before carefully lifting Jack in front of him.

"Ready?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay then, hold on tight."

Arthur lightly tapped his heels sending the horse into a slow trot.

"Where are we going?"

"Not far, just a little while down the road to the water." Arthur glanced the young boy over. "You doing better now? I know you was a little sick."

"I'm all better now. Momma made me drink this icky potion thingy that Uncle Sean brought back to camp."

Arthur smirked.

"That's called medicine, Jack, not a potion."

"Uncle Sean called it a potion."

"Did he..."

"Yeah! He said that they were made by really old, spotty, raggedy women who boil frogs and spiders in a big pot."

Arthur was lost for words.

"Well... umm, your Uncle Sean has certainly not lost his imagination, but no Jack, sadly it's not that exciting. People called doctors make them special so that little boys like you can feel better when they're under the weather."

"How?"

"That question is for a man much smarter than myself. Maybe ask Uncle Hosea, he's been known to make some brews in his time."

Jack's eyes lit up.

"What if Uncle Hosea is a witch?!"

Arthur had to choke back laughter as he tried to keep a straight face, ruffling a hand through the boy's hair.

"Never grow up, okay, Jack?"

"I have to, silly."

He smiled.

* * *

Down by their fishing spot, Jack had already gotten bored, no longer interested in the tutorial his Uncle was giving him about the wonders of catching fish and was now sat picking flowers.

"Do you wanna' see the fish I just caught?" Arthur asked, turning to the boy.

"No thank you."

He shook his head a little with a small smile.

"Just like your father."

"What?" Jack's voice piped up.

"Nothing." Arthur smirked to himself, collapsing his fishing rod and walking over to his nephew, crouching down in front of him. "What you got there?"

"A necklace."

"A necklace?" He smiled.

"Yeah, for momma."

"Well I think she's just going to love it, especially since you made it."

Jack held up a handful of American Ginseng.

"These flowers are pretty. They're so red!"

Arthur was just about to reply until he heard the sound of hooves approaching behind them. Turning in an instant he spotted two men dismounting their horses.

"What a touching scene." The smaller of the two men grinned. "Arthur, isn't it? Arthur Morgan?"

Turning to his nephew, Arthur reached back to place his hand on Jack's shoulder, guiding the younger boy out of sight and, he hoped, out of danger. Jack took his hand and Arthur squeezed it softly in reassurance.

"Who are you?"

"Yes, Arthur Morgan. Van der Linde's most trusted associate. You've read the files, typical case. Orphaned street kid seduced by that maniac's silver tongue and matures into a degenerate murderer." The shorter of the two men placed a hand over his chest. "Agent Milton." He then pointed to his partner. "Agent Ross. Pinkerton Detective Agency, seconded to the United States Government."

They walked closer, Agent Ross pulling out a rifle and training it on them.

Arthur tightened his grip on his nephew's hand as he heard the whisps of fear in his breath.

"We know a lot about you."

"Do you?"

"You're a wanted man, Mr. Morgan. There's five thousand dollars for your head alone."

Arthur scoffed.

"Five thousand dollars? For me? Can I turn myself in?" He replied, sarcastically.

"We want Van der Linde."

"Old Dutch? I haven't seen him for months."

"That so? Because I heard a guy fitting his description robbed a train belonging to Leviticus Cornwall up near Granite Pass."

"Oh, ain't that a little old fashioned nowadays?"

"Apparently not." Agent Milton took out a notebook, opening it to a certain page. "So where are those brothers of yours?"

Arthur scoffed.

"I don't have any brothers. Maybe you should re-check those files of yours."

"Well, I happen to know that Mr. John Marston and Mr. Sean Macguire are known to refer to themselves instead as Morgan. And considering the fact that the earliest record we have of the three of you together was..." He looked down at notebook. "Annesburg back in 83, it sure seems likely that my files are in fact correct, don't you think?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Agent Milton glanced at Jack.

"So he's yours then?"

Arthur growled low and threatening.

"That's none of your business. You leave him out of this, you hear me!"

Agent Milton smirked.

"You can fawn innocence all you want, Mr. Morgan, play that card and see where it gets you and your ' _associates_ '."

"Brothers or not, you better leave them the hell alone." Arthur looked between the two of the agents. "So you enjoy being a rich man's toy do you?"

"I enjoy society flaws and all. You people venerate savagery and you will die, savagely." Agent Milton pointed to Jack. "All of you."

"Oh, we're all gonna' die, Agent."

"Some of us sooner than others."

The agents turned and walked off.

"Good day, Mr. Morgan."

Arthur's hand went to his holster.

"Enjoy your fishing, kid..." The other agent added before they left.

Reminded of Jack's presence, he moved his hand from his gun and turned to Jack, waiting until the agents were out of view before scooping him up.

"You okay?"

Jack looked spooked but nodded regardless.

"Who were they?"

"They were nobody." Arthur sighed. Walking back over to his horse he placed his young nephew in the saddle before mounting up himself.

"You do have brothers, Uncle Arthur." Jack stated.

"I know I do, but they didn't need to know that."

"Why?"

"It's a long story, Jack."

Arthur was glad they hadn't gone far from camp, making sure to keep the pace brisk as they hurried back.

Abigail was waiting for them when they broke through the trees, her face was alight with a smile as she spotted them but it soon dropped as she saw Arthur's expression.

"What's wrong?"

He shook his head, helping Jack dismount.

Abigail collected her son into her arms, lifting him up.

"Look, momma!" He held up the necklace. "And Arthur caught a bunch of fish."

"Well isn't that so pretty." She took the necklace, fawning a smile for him. "Why don't you go and see what Uncle Charles is carving over there, huh? I'm sure he'd love to show you."

"Okay!"

"Hey, kid." Arthur called after him.

Jack turned to him.

"Yeah?"

"Good work there today."

"Thanks, Uncle Arthur." He beamed before heading over to Charles.

Abigail waited till the young boy was occupied before placing a hand on her brother-in-law's arm.

"What's wrong?"

"Pinkertons found us down by the river."

Her eyes widened.

"What happened? Did they?!"

"They just wanted to make their presence known, nothing more than scare tactics, but they had a gun on me."

"Shit..."

"My thoughts exactly." Arthur exhaled. "It should be fine, but we just need to be a little more careful from now on."

Abigail nodded.

"You should probably tell Dutch and Hosea."

He nodded, heading off towards the tent.

"Oh, and Arthur?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for taking Jack out."

"No problem." He smiled.


	14. Blessed are the Peacemakers

It was just over two weeks later when Arthur returned to camp to find Pearson and Micah talking animatedly to Dutch.

"Arthur, just the man I've been looking for."

"What's going on?"

"Peace." Dutch answered.

Arthur furrowed an eyebrow.

"Come again?"

"I met a couple of the O'Driscoll boys on the road into town, things were about to get ugly, but you know how I am in a fight, huh? Like a cornered tiger." Pearson explained. "Anyway... somehow it didn't, but we got to talking and they suggested a parley to end things like gentlemen."

"You can not be serious..." Arthur scoffed. "Have you lost your goddamn minds?"

"Like Dutch is always telling us, cowpoke, do what has to be one, but don't fight wars ain't worth fighting." Micah added.

"They want a parley? It's a trap." Hosea offered from just across the camp.

Arthur pointed to him.

"Ahh, someone with sense."

"Well of course, it's probably a trap but what have we got to lose finding out?"

"Gettin' shot." Arthur answered, dryly.

"We ain't getting shot because you'll be protecting us."

"Oh will I now."

"If it's a trap, you shoot the lot of them, if it ain't a trap, that slim chance..."

Dutch walked out from his tent.

"I don't see the point of any of this."

"It's a chance we gotta' take." Micah stated.

The leader nodded.

"Let's go."

"Dutch, this is crazy!" Arthur attempted, turning to Hosea for back up.

The older man walked over.

"Arthur's right, Dutch, it's a risk we don't need to take."

But Dutch wasn't listening, already heading over to mount up, Micah alongside him.

Arthur groaned.

John rushed over.

"You're not seriously going, are you?"

"I have to."

"Then let me come with you."

Arthur stopped, turning to his brother.

"Like hell. This is absolutely going to be a trap, you and Sean are going nowhere near any O'Driscoll's."

"If you know it's going to be a trap then why are you going?"

Arthur sighed.

"Like I said, I have to."

Hosea, catching this conversation, shook his head.

"Arthur, this is stupid, please don't do this." John's tone was filled with worry.

"They need someone to cover them and I'm the best shot."

"They're going to get you killed."

Arthur placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"I'll be back, okay?" He offered the strongest smile he could muster. "Look after your brother."

John nodded.

"Always."

Arthur walked over to mount Artemis.

Hosea was once again talking to Dutch.

"Don't do this."

"Dutch, we need to move out." Micah infected.

Dutch nodded.

"Let's go."

* * *

Arthur watched through the sight of the rifle the 'parley' between Dutch, Micah, Colm, and the O'Driscoll's. Everything was calm until...

A fluffy of footsteps approached suddenly before the stock of a gun smacked him upside the head, sending him to a heap on the ground, still vaguely holding onto consciousness.

The next hit came...

* * *

"WHERE IS HE?!" Shouted John, merely seconds away from doing something stupid with his fists.

"The O'Driscoll's got him." Dutch explained. "It was a trap."

"You knew it was going to be a trap, so why did you go?!" Sean added.

Hosea looked equally furious, but also deathly worried.

"We need to find him, god only knows what they're capable of."

The Morgan brothers nodded. Javier and Charles behind them also ready to head out.

"No, we can't." Micah stated.

Sean closed the gap between them, getting up in the older man's face.

"Excuse me?!"

"They'll bring the law down on us. If we go after Arthur then we might as well just hand ourselves in right now. They'll round us up like cattle."

"It's true." Dutch nodded.

"I'm sorry, kid, but your brother knew what he was going into back there and he came anyway." Micah continued.

John exhaled angrily.

"You didn't give him a choice." He turned to Dutch. "He trusted you... and you're really gonna' do nothing?"

"Dutch... it's Arthur." Hosea added.

"It's too risky." Dutch walked towards his tent.

"Please tell me this is a joke..." John shook his head, biting his tongue. "There is nothing Arthur wouldn't do for any of you guys and this is what happens in the reverse, no one gives a crap? Same situation, Arthur rode all the way to Strawberry to help break Micah out of jail, he chased down a group of criminals to persuade the law in Rhodes to release Trelawny, and he even got you and Hosea out of jail once a few years back, and this is how you repay him?!"

"The situation is a little different, kid..." Micah scoffed.

"No it ain't. If anything, it's easier 'cause this ain't the law, this is just a bunch of O'Driscoll's. How many times have we gone and raided their fucking camps?! We've done more for less."

"Even if we were to ride out for him we can't do it in the dark." Dutch stated. "We'd also need a plan, which takes time, so first thing tomorrow."

Sean shook his head before swiftly turning to punch the camp funds box off the barrel it was sitting on.

"Fuck you all..."

He walked off, John following behind.

* * *

Despite his eagerness to just forgo Dutch's instructions and ride out to find his brother, John pushed it down as he stood watch at the entrance to the camp. Sean was out with him, neither of the Morgan brothers able to even contemplate sleep when Arthur was out there at the mercy of the O'Driscoll's.

John walked over to Sean and sat down on a wooden crate beside him.

"Arthur is better than any O'Driscoll, I feel sorry for them more than him."

Sean smirked.

"Imagine if Arthur single handedly killed every single one of the O'Driscoll's without even breaking a sweat. It's something he could probably do too."

John smiled.

"Probably. I learned a long time ago to never underestimate Arthur. He can get shit done when he wants to."

"I just..."

The Morgan brother's eyes widened at the sound of hooves approaching, John immediately rising from the crate, bearing the rifle towards the cluster of brush.

"Who goes there?"

No response.

His little brother gasped behind him.

There, lying unconscious across Artemis, was Arthur.

"Oh my god..." John threw the rifle at Sean before taking Artemis' reins and gently guiding him further into the camp.

"Help!" Sean shouted.

Hitching him, John placed his hand on Arthur's shoulder.

"It's okay, Arthur, we got you. You're safe now."

His brother groaned weakly.

"J'n?"

John smiled.

"Yeah, it's me, Arthur. Sean's here too."

His little brother nodded, closing up to them offering a smile.

"Help me." John instructed, waiting for Sean to get in place before they lifted Arthur carefully down from Artemis and over to his tent.

The camp were awake and rushing over.

"Oh my god..." Javier exclaimed under his breath.

"We need fresh water and bandages." Charles stated. "Those wounds can't get infected or he's in for a world more hurt."

Sean nodded, rushing off to get the stated items.

Javier placed his hand reassuringly on his friends shoulder.

"He's gonna' be okay, John."

John sighed.

"He shouldn't be in this state in the first place..."

Dutch made his way over.

"Oh my boy! What happened to him?"

John scoffed.

"What do you think happened?"

Sean returned, handing the supplies to Charles who immediately began to dress Arthur's wounds. It didn't take long before the eldest Morgan seemed to be resting as peacefully as possible given the circumstances.

"He needs rest, let him sleep."

"I ain't fucking leaving him." Sean stated.

"Sean..." John calmed.

His little brother took a breath.

"Sorry, I'm just..."

Charles nodded.

"It's fine, he's your brother, you can do as you wish."

"You should sleep, or at least try to, I'll take first watch, okay? Then we'll swap." John instructed, placing a hand reassuringly on his little brother's shoulder.

"Okay."

* * *

**One Week Later**

Having spent the majority of the morning sat beside Arthur's bed, John knew he had to start doing chores.

He felt wiped, looking after his brothers and taking the position of 'man of the camp' in Arthur's place had well and truly left him ready to collapse.

But John knew he had to keep it up. Arthur needed him to.

On his way past Pearson's butchers table he noticed the lack of food.

Looks like he'd have to go hunting.

Collecting Arthur's bow and quiver he checked on Sean, finding him exactly where he'd left him camped out on a bedroll a short distance away from Arthur's bed before walking over to his horse and mounting up.

"Going somewhere?"

It was Charles.

"Gotta' get some food."

Charles furrowed an eyebrow in concern.

"Are you sure that's wise? When was the last time you slept?"

"I'm fine, and the camp needs supplies."

"Then I'm coming with you."

Charles walked over to his horse, also mounting up.

"You don't have to do that."

"I want to. Plus, with the two of us we can get the job done quicker."

John smiled.

"Thanks, Charles."

Charles nodded as they headed out of the camp.


	15. Icarus

The road to recovery proved arduous and annoying, mostly because his brothers seemed to had made it their life's work to make sure he didn't even lift a feather. To say they were a little protective was an understatement, but as much as Arthur did appreciate them looking out for him, it felt wrong. He was the older brother. Looking out for them was his job, and being out of commission for two weeks was hell for the eldest Morgan brother.

But he was sufficiently healed, his shoulder was stiff but moved fine enough to ride and shoot a gun, and John and Sean had finally seemed content enough to let him resume his normal affairs, which currently involved him walking through Rhodes with said younger brothers (who adamantly stated they were coming), Bill, and Micah.

The sound of a gun firing had Arthur spinning to find Sean lying prone on the ground in a pool of blood.

He stopped breathing, legs going to jelly beneath him as he stumbled, back hitting against the wall as he couldn't will himself to look away.

His little brother was...

"Noooooooo!" He heard John scream, voice hoarse and emotional. "You bastards! I'm gonna' kill you!"

John leaped out, running straight at the Gray's, and in that moment, Arthur felt sick in the realisation that he could lose both his brothers.

"John!"

He grabbed his gun and started shooting.

* * *

The gunfight took what seemed like an age before everything went silent.

Arthur stumbled back to his little brother, collapsing to his knees beside him. As he did, his eyes widened.

Sean was shaking, eyes screwed closed.

"Sean!"

John, who had been packing back and forth ready to punch something, stopped abruptly.

Arthur put a hand to his brother's cheek, using the other to move away hair from a bullet wound in the side of Sean's head.

"How the hell are you alive?"

The wound was small and bleeding sluggishly.

Sean looked terrified, an expression Arthur hated seeing on either of his little brothers.

"Hey, hey, it's okay, you're fine. We got you."

"Where's John?"

Arthur motioned toward John, not breaking eye contact with Sean as he did so.

John walked over.

"I need to talk to Bill, then we'll get your the hell outta' here, okay?"

"Yeah."

"Good kid." Arthur patted him gently on the shoulder before he got to his feet, swapping places with John, who immediately began fussing over Sean.

Arthur heard, 'Don't give me that look you ugly shite, I ain't joining no scar club of yours', as he walked away, smiling a little before he spotted Bill and his expression changed.

"You could've gotten Sean killed... You nearly did!" His tone was low and threatening.

"Well how the hell was I supposed to know?!"

"Let me see... they set us up once before, they didn't like us, we destroyed their farm, should I go on?!" Arthur's voice became louder and louder with anger.

"Go easy on him Morgan." Arrived the voice of Micah.

"You can shut the hell up too. It's best you don't talk to me right now or I will punch you in your goddamn face."

He took a breath, turning to Bill.

"Head on back to camp, Dutch will wanna' know what happened here."

Micah and Bill mounted their horses before heading off.

Arthur returned to Sean.

"You need a doctor."

"I'm fine."

"Sure..." Arthur wrapped his arm around Sean's back as he helped him to his feet, John immediately taking half the weight on the other side. "John'll take Ennis back to camp, she should follow him. Me and you though..." He helped his little brother up onto Artemis. "...we have a date in Saint Denis."

John wolf whistled with a cheeky expression.

"Shut the fuck up, grease boy." Sean retorted.

John burst out laughing.

Arthur rolled his eyes.

"See you back at camp."

* * *

The journey to Saint Denis seemed endless, with Sean becoming worse with every mile. By time they reached the city, his little brother was barely conscious, slumped against Arthur's back.

"You need to stay with me, Sean."

Arriving at the doctor's office, Arthur carefully dismounted before he lifted Sean down.

"I need some help here!"

The doctor rushed out.

"What happened?"

"My brother was shot in the head."

His eyes widened as he took the other side of Sean and helped him inside.

* * *

Sean was asleep on the table in the treatment room, Arthur sat awake and terrified in a seat beside it.

The doctor had given his little brother some pain relief in the hope that he would be able to get some rest before any further treatment was needed.

That was eight hours ago.

Sean looked pale and bone-tired, specks of blood still to be found on his shirt collar and hair. He groaned.

Arthur reached out a hand and placed it reassuringly on his little brother's shoulder.

"It's okay."

Sean eye's flickered open. Arthur watched as he seemed alarmed by something as he looked around.

"Aw, shit..." His younger brother cursed, reaching a hand up to scrub down his face looking hopeless.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't see out my right eye, Arthur." Sean answered, clearly holding back a wave of emotion.

Arthur looked horrified but determined.

"You're alive, that's what matters."

"I'm useless now, more so than I already was."

"Sean, no..."

"Where the hell are we anyway?" He asked, changing the subject.

Arthur sighed. "Saint Denis doctor's office."

The doctor walked into the room.

Sean struggled to get himself upright, managing to do so successfully after a few attempts.

"Ahh, you're awake." Greeted the doctor.

Arthur turned to him.

"Is he fit to travel?"

"Slowly, yes."

"I'm fine." Sean stated, trying to get down from the table.

Arthur jumped in to help, putting his arm around his brother as he supported him out of the room.

"Thanks, doc."

Reaching Artemis, he patted him before instructing him to follow.

"Where we going, Arthur?" Asked Sean, voice small.

"Train station."

"Why?"

"Because you're in no state to ride all the way back to camp."

"We rode here, didn't we?"

"Yeah because I thought you was..." Arthur cut himself off. "We're not arguing about this, we're getting the train."

"Okay, Arthur."

* * *

Reaching Rhodes, Arthur helped Sean from the train before aiding him to mount Artemis, careful to not draw attention to themselves. The town was still up in arms after what had happened earlier and the last thing they needed was to be spotted with Sean in the state he was.

Taking the reins, he elected to walk them back to Clemens Point, keeping out of public eye through the trees, something that proved to be the correct choice when halfway there, he turned to see his brother resting against Artemis' neck in light sleep.

By time they passed through the trees of the camp, they knew something was wrong.

Abigail's scream had the brother's eyes widening.

Sean rallied himself, taking a gun from Artemis' saddle just in case.

"Arthur!"

John sprinted over.

"What's wrong?"

Abigail joined him.

"They took Jack! Arthur, they took him!"

Arthur and Sean looked horrified.

"Is this because of me?" Sean whispered so only Arthur could hear.

"Sean, it's not your fault, you couldn't control what happened back there. They caught us off guard, that's all." He reassured as he took a deep breath and pulled Abigail into a hug. "We will get him back, I promise you that."

"Thank you."

"Hey, that boy is my nephew, I would die for him in a heartbeat. Now, I need to ask a favour."

"Anything."

"Look after Sean for me while we're gone."

"I don't need looking after." Sean complained.

"You nearly died, just... humour me, please?" His big brother protective side came out in full force.

"Okay." He relented.

Abigail walked over to Artemis and helped Sean down.

"What did you do this time you silly fool?" She asked.

Arthr turned to John who looked ill.

"Come on."

They headed toward Dutch's tent where he was talking to Hosea.

"...you never know, it could make you a better shot." He heard Abigail tease his little brother and tried not to smirk.

"Arthur." They greeted.

"What's the plan?"

* * *

Getting Jack back proved a longer process than they anticipated, the entire camp having to move to someplace called Shady Belle out in the swamps during the whole ordeal too. But his brother had his son back, Arthur got a big hug from his strangely dressed nephew, and vague normality returned as the gang decided a celebration was in order.

At the party, Sean was keeping up appearances, offering the odd typical cheeky response.

Arthur walked over to where he was sat.

"Come on, you need to rest so you can heal."

"Heal what, it's gone, Arthur."

"I know." Arthur sat down next to him. "But this isn't world ending. Sure it's gonna' take some time to get used to, and you'll have to re-learn a bunch of crap, but you're young and you're determined, you'll get it."

"You seem so sure." Sean looked down, fiddling with his fingers. "I'm an idiot, remember? I'm not smart like you. No one's gonna' want me around when they realise I'm even more useless. I mean, my own nephew just got kidnapped and I couldn't do shit about it!"

"First off, Jack is fine, and you had a perfectly good reason for not going to Saint Denis with us. But aside from that, you don't give yourself enough credit for what you have up here." Arthur motions to his little brother's head. "You're gonna' get through this, and you'll find ways to do all the shit you used to. And obviously John and I will always be there if you need us."

Sean smiled too.

"Thanks, Arthur."

"No problem." He stood up. "Now come on, bed."

Arthur helped his little brother to his feet and across the camp to the house.

"I'm fine in my own tent, Arthur."

"You're not sleeping on a bedroll, not tonight."

Footsteps could be heard before Sean spotted Karen and smiled.

"What, no 'thank god you're alive' kiss?"

"You scared me, asshole!"

"Flower, I didn't exactly want to get shot in the fucking head."

"Bullets are just attracted to him it seems." Arthur joked.

"Shut up, Arthur!"

Leaving Sean with Karen, Arthur exhaled, eyes glancing around the camp, smiling at the sight of everyone so happy.

He caught sight of a figure sat alone on a crate beside the horses and walked over.

It was Kieran.

"You okay?"

Kieran, clearly having been unaware of his approach, jumped slightly.

"Shit! Um, yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

It was then that Arthur noticed the way the boy was holding his arm close to his chest, and the bruises covering his skin.

"What happened?"

"I tried to stop them, I did! They went after Jack and I just... I weren't strong enough, and I'm sorry."

"Did you tell Mrs. Grimshaw about that arm?!" Arthur asked, softly.

"Yes, sir."

Arthur nodded, going to walk off. He paused.

"Oh and Kieran?"

"Yeah?"

"Call me Arthur."

Kieran smiled.

"Get some sleep, kid."

"Will do."

* * *

The next morning, Arthur groaned at the pain in his muscles from spending the night on a bedroll before walking out into the glorious sunshine of the new day.

To his surprise, John had beaten him up, already outside.

He knew immediately that something was on his mind as he sat alone to the side, much the same as Arthur had found Kieran the previous night.

"You okay?"

Arthur patted his brother on the shoulder before taking a seat beside him.

John shrugged.

"We got Jack back, and Sean's gonna' be fine, you know? He's tougher than we think he is."

"If he'd died back there, I don't know what I'd have done. I mean... it's Sean. Our Sean. And he could've..."

"You ran in guns blazin', that's what you did. I nearly lost both of ya'."

"Uncle Arthur!" Shouted an excitable young voice.

"I love how he never shouts for me..." John smirked, tone laced with sarcasm, cheering himself up for Jack's arrival.

"Hey, buddy."

Arthur lifted Jack onto his knee, the young boy huddling immediately close to his chest.

"Mama said I wasn't supposed to bother Uncle Sean."

"No you ain't. Listen to your mother and let him have some time, okay?" John instructed.

Jack nodded. "Okay, Daddy."

He reached up to grab at Arthur's hat.

Arthur smiled, taking off his hat and placing it on the boy's head.

Jack giggled.

"Jack?"

He turned to see Abigail looking around the camp.

"He's here."

She walked over and shook her head at the sight of Jack in the oversized hat.

"What have these silly fools got you wearing?" Abigail smirked.

"I'm a cowboy, mama."

"Not in my lifetime you ain't. No son of mine is gonna' be some silly gunslinger."

"But I wanna' be like daddy."

John smiled proudly as he nudged Arthur.

"That is the exact opposite of what you should wanna' be." Abigail teased.

John rolled his eyes.

Arthur burst out laughing.

"Come on, let's go say good morning to the horses."

Jack beamed allowing himself to be picked up by Abigail before they walked off.

Arthur smiled.

"You have a great kid."


End file.
